gms day

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Games From the Basement - Thieves' World

Alright, Thieves' World technically isn't it's own game. It's closer to being a "Universal Supplement" as it claims support for 9 RPGs. Imagine that!

It is based off of Robert Asprin's Thieves' World Anthology series. The first few books were the best... I think i tapped out around number 5 or 6. It was a nice experiment allowing multiple authors to share stories in the same setting.

What games did it have stats for?

AD&D, D&D, Tunnels &Trolls, Chivalry & Sorcery, DragonQuest, The Fantasy Trip, RuneQuest, Adventures in Fantasy (I don't know this one) and even Traveller. Yes, Chaosium got permission from TSR and the like to use their stats. It really was a different time in gaming.

Ken St Andre writes the T&T section , Marc Miller the Traveller section, Eric Goldberg the DragonQuest section, Dave Arneson the Adventures in Fantasy section (now I need to find a copy of the game) and a few other names that bring back memories of that time in gaming (Steve Marsh, Lawrence Schick, Steve Perrin, Greg Stafford, Eric Goldberg).

The city is mapped awesomely. Really. Did I mention the maps? ;)

If I recall correctly, Midekmia Press also worked on Cities or some such supplement. Random tables galore. You could probably run a session solely off the tables if the GM was willing and able to work with the results. Yes, this was a city sandbox.

We used this off and on, but for the most part, it is very Thieves' World specific, and my players for the most part hadn't read the books. It's still an awesome source of charts for any city adventure, so long as you scrape of any parts that are Thieves' world specific.

5 comments:

One of my favorite RPG supplements of all time! I finally acquired a copy last year. :)

Adventures in Fantasy was written by Dave. You can find copies on ebay from time to time, for not Too, Too, much money, if I recall correctly (maybe $50 or so? Don't quote me on that.) Email me if you want more info on the game.

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 46, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)